Law-School Survey Shows Effect of Tight Job Market on Curricula

A report released on Thursday by the American Bar Association suggests that the economic downturn and the difficult legal job market have spurred most law schools to change their curricula to produce lawyers who are ready to practice. Seventy-six percent of the law schools surveyed said the job market has influenced their curricular changes. The survey also found that law schools have increased training in clinical and professional skills to meet a bar-association standard requiring that students be taught “other professional skills generally regarded as necessary for effective and responsible participation in the legal profession.”